Bosch Navigation 1.5 - Maps and Navigation

Summary

Our Score

7/10

Review Price £44.99

Aside from addresses and POIs, you can also head for the address stored in a contact on your iPhone. We found Bosch Navigation reasonably adept at this, so long as the addresses had been entered correctly into the Contacts app in the first place. You can head for bare coordinates as well, should you need to track someone down on a long numberless road. It's also possible to save a home location and list of favourites, for rapid recall.

We were testing the UK and Ireland version of Bosch Navigation, with the maps provided by Navteq. But here the app reveals one of its secret weapons. There are also maps of major roads in the remaining European countries. This won't allow you to navigate to specific streets, but you can search for a town and navigate towards its centre. So if you do find yourself in Europe without a map, Bosch Navigation will at least help you find your way at a basic level, even if not directly where you want to go, which could save you a fortune on Google Maps data roaming.

When you have worked out where you want to go, the map screen provides a clear, if somewhat monochromatic display. Information about your journey is positioned along the bottom, including precise coordinates of your current location, the distance and time to your destnation, and your estimated time of arrival. The next turning is shown in the bottom right-hand corner. If you must make a couple of turnings in quick succession, the second one will be listed as a smaller graphic above the first.

There are some navigational widgets included as well. The system knows where sharp turnings are, and warns you when you approach them so you can ensure you're not travelling too fast. The 3D Art Map option (which you can turn off if you want) superimposes three-dimensional models of key landmarks onto the map. However, they are few and far between in the UK, with London sporting just really major monuments such as the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye or the Gherkin.